It's no mean feat trying to condense Aston Villa's history down to 26 letters.

But Birmingham Mail football editor has picked out his Villa alphabet, which includes the sublime and the ridiculous.

A - Aston Villa

The club’s name is believed to derive from the Aston Villa Wesleyan Chapel situated close to a Georgian house called Aston Villa where Villa Road, Lozells Road and Heathfield Road meet in Lozells.

In his excellent Villa book, Children of the Revolution, author Richard Whitehead wrote: “There are loads of Uniteds, lots of Citys and Towns, a goodly sprinkling of Wanderers and Rovers and even a few Albions.

“But there is only one Villa - the greatest name in football in every sense.”

Former boss John Gregory agrees, observing in his autobiography The Boss: “Even the name is beautifully symmetrical, with five letters in each word.”

B – Brothers

Luke Moore and Stefan Moore

Sixteen sets of siblings have played together for Villa. Archie and Andy Hunter, Harry and Joe Simmonds, Arthur and Albert Brown, James and John Cowan, John and Will Devey, Bert and Jack Sharp, Alfred and Martin Watkins, Clem, Jimmy and George T. Stephenson, Harry and George Hampton, Sam and George Hardy, Frank and Amos Moss, Alec and James Logan, John and Albert McLachlan, Bruce and Neil Rioch, Alan and Brian Little, Stefan and Luke Moore.

Gary Gardner has always dreamed of playing alongside big brother Craig Gardner in the same Villa team.

Given how Birmingham City's Craig has nailed his Blues colours to the mast, we don't think that will happen any time soon.

C – Charlie

Villa have seen their fair share of big-time Charlies down the years, but only one genuine long-time Charlie. Scottish left-back Charlie Aitken was one of the most loyal club men Villa are ever likely to boast – and he still hosts the appearance record, playing 660 times between 1961 and 1976.

D – Deadly

Or Sir Herbert Douglas Ellis to give him his full title. He invented the bicycle kick.

The package holiday entrepreneur divided opinion during his long stewardship of Aston Villa from 1968 to 2006 (tellingly, during Ellis’ absence between 1979 and 1982 Aston Villa won the First Division title in 1981 and European Cup 1982).

Valued by some for keeping Villa on a sound financial footing, pilloried by others for lacking ambition, and known by most for sacking managers.

E – England

Villa have provided more England internationals than any of the club, with the number currently at 71.

Howard Vaughton and Arthur Brown were the first in 1882, with Fabian Delph the latest. ‘Who will be next?’ is the big question – Jack Grealish is where the hopes lie.

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F – FA Cup

Villa have lost the FA Cup more times than some of their rivals have won it, as the old joke goes.

They have lifted the famous trophy seven times, although after their second triumph in 1895, the cup, won in a 1-0 victory over Albion, was taken on the night of September 11, from a football equipment shop run by William Shillcock in Birmingham’s Newtown Row and was never recovered.

Also never recovered has been Villa’s secret of winning the FA Cup, with their last triumph coming way back in 1957.

The nearest they have come since then was the disappointing final defeat to Arsenal in 2015 and the flat loss against Chelsea in 2000.

G – God

Villa fans can never hear the spiritual song Kumbaya without replacing the words with ‘Paul McGrath, my lord, Paul McGrath’.

McGrath was a flawed genius, nicknamed God for turning defending into an art form despite battling alcoholism.

Renowned as one of the best players in Aston Villa history, and rightly so, a genuine legend who illuminated the club between 1989 and 1996.

H- Holte End

Formerly the largest terrace in Europe, housing 26,000 fans, the Holte End is still the biggest behind the goal stand in the continent, now seating 13,000 home supporters in two tiers.

It was last used as a terrace against Liverpool on the final day of 1993-94, when Villa hit back from a goal down at half-time to win 2-1 with two Dwight Yorke goals in front of the Holte End.

Fans were seen streaming away from the ground with souvenirs of the Holte End, including toilet seats! Holte Enders in the Sky is a famous Villa terrace chant, to the tune of Johnny Cash’s Ghost Riders in the Sky.

I – Ivo Stas

Is the answer to the amusing trivia question, ‘Which Villa player scored for the club without ever playing a game for them?’

Stas scored an own goal playing for Banik Ostrava during Villa’s 2-1 victory over the Slovakian club in the UEFA Cup in October 1990.

Despite the o.g. the defender actually played well and was signed by Villa boss Jo Venglos the following month, only to suffer an achilles tendon injury which prevented him ever kicking a ball competitively for the club.

His spell prompted an amusing spoof Ivo Writes Home column in fanzine Heroes and Villains, featuring fictitious letters to his family about passing him time sight-seeing in Brum rather than playing football.

J – Jimmy

Jimmy was Villa’s first manager, and their second, with Jimmy McMullan taking over team affairs which prior to June 1934 had always been managed by committee.

McMullan flopped as Villa were relegated for the first time in their history in his second season, before successor Jimmy Hogan restored them to the top flight as Division Two champions in his second season in 1937-38.

Steve Bruce is the club’s 28th manager.

K – King

Villa boast the past King, namely Phil King, he of penalty scoring fame during that cracking UEFA shootout win over Inter Milan in September 1995 (sadly, his shirt from that heady night was lost in a garage fire at his mother-in-law’s home).

They also boast the future King, namely famous fan Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge, who witnessed his first match at Villa Park when he attended a bore draw with Sunderland.

Wills, along with Hollywood megastar Tom Hanks and former Prime Minister David Cameron have stolen fiddler Nigel Kennedy’s crown as Villa’s most well known celebrity supporter.

L – Lamp

It was under a lamp at the top of Heathfield Road in Lozells that the club was born, most probably on Saturday, November 21, 1874, although records a little sketchy.

Members of the Male Adult Bible Class meeting at the Aston Villa Wesleyan Chapel in Handsworth, had a cricket club and wanted a winter sporting activity.

On the way back from a rugby match in Handsworth they decided rugby was a little too rough and the quartet of John Hughes, William H. Price, George Matthews and William H. Scattergood decided to adopt association rules instead.

The rest, as they say, is history of this great football club.

M – Murder

(Image: True Detective Magazine)

Villa defender Tommy Ball was shot dead by landlord and neighbour George Stagg the night after helping Villa to a 1-0 win over Notts County.

The culprit, a former policeman, was sentenced to death, but the punishment was later adjusted to penal servitude for life.

Stagg’s exact motive for the murder on November 11, 1923 was unclear, although there are suggestions he had argued with Ball several times over the footballer’s dog and chickens trespassing on his land in Perry Barr.

N – Chris Nicholl

It’s rare for a player to score four goals in one game.

It’s even more unusual for two of them to be in the right net and two in the wrong net.

That was the situation when Nicholl hit two goals and two own goals during a 2-2 Division One draw with Leicester at Filbert Street in March 1976.

Nicholl twice put the Foxes in front, before grabbing two eqaualisers for Villa!

O – Oh it must be, it is, Peter Withe

Next time you are at Villa Park, have a glance at the North Stand and familiarise yourself with the banner celebrating Brian Moore's memorable piece of commentary.

It commemorates quite a moment in Aston Villa’s history, not that the claret and blues like to talk about it - much!

P – Pongo Waring

The unusually-named striker kicked up quite a stink by scoring the most goals in a single season for Villa.

He notched 50 overall, with 49 in the league and one in the FA Cup in 1930-31.

It was also the season Villa scored their highest number of league goals – 128.

Q – Quote

“If there is a club in the country which deserves to be dubbed the greatest (and the matter is one of some delicacy) few will deny the right of Aston Villa to share the highest niche of fame with even the most historic of other aspirants.

"For brilliancy and, at the same time, for consistency of achievement, for activity in philanthropic enterprise, for astuteness of management and for general alertness, the superiors of Aston Villa cannot be found.” So said William McGregor.

Ron Saunders (Image: MirrorPix)

R – Ron Saunders

On the subject of quotes, this beauty from Suanders is a claret and blue favourite.

“Allegations are all very well but I would like to know who these alligators are.”

But actions tended to speak louder than words for Saunders, who lifted Villa from the second tier to the First Division title, two league cup wins and laid the foundations for the European Cup triumph.

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S – Shambles

That was the word the late, great Graham Taylor used to describe Aston Villa when he took over the club following their relegation from the First Division in 1986-87. He soon put things right.

Taylor picked Villa up off the floor and ensured that one promotion-winning campaign was the only year the club have been outside the top flight in the past 39 years.

‘Sir’ Graham was the saviour who set the claret and blues straight and is rightly lauded for doing so.

T –Trabzonspor

It has emerged that Villa are the inspiration for the Turkish club’s claret and blue colours.

Former Villa secretary Steve Stride now works as a UEFA delegate and found out the story behind Trabzonspor’s kit before their Europa League match against Apollon Limassol.

The club’s president Ibrahim Haciosmanoglu revealed that when his club were formed in 1967 they had no money for kit so contacted a number of clubs in Europe and Villa were the only ones to respond, sending a full set.

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U – Unsworth

Slang for ‘under the thumb’. David Unsworth signed for Villa for £4 million from West Ham in 1998, only for Mrs Unsworth to prompt a dramatic change of heart.

Manager John Gregory joked that Unsworth’s wife thought Birmingham was near Bolton when the defender asked to leave Villa for Everton to be nearer his Lancashire home, just a week after arriving at Villa Park and soon got his wish.

“He was told he’d got to be home by one o’clock or his dinner would be in the bin,” quipped Gregory, while Unsworth was greeted with chants of ‘Does your missus know you’re here?” on all subsequent visits to Villa Park.

V – Venglos

Jozef Venglos. A foreign manager? In England? It will never work!

Sadly, it didn’t for Villa as the Czech pioneer struggled at Villa where some of his methods were a bit too ahead of his time.

He couldn’t get why the players wanted to drink beer after matches.

The Birmingham Mail headline ‘For God’s sake go, Jo’ summed up a season that was doomed to fail, although Venglos did mastermind a thrilling 2-0 victory over Inter Milan at Villa Park.

W – William McGregor

He’s the bearded bloke made of bronze and holding a piece of paper outside Villa Park. If you don’t know who he is by now, Google him. He’s quite important.

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X – X-girlfriend

Okay, so by saying ‘x’ rather than ‘ex’ we’re cheating a little bit, but so was Marlon Harewood, or Marlon Martin to give him his adulterous alias.

A local Villa reporter went to interview Harewood at Bodymoor Heath and, having seen it mentioned on the player’s own website, asked if it was true he would have been a painter and decorator had he not played football.

Unbeknownst to the journalist it was a cruel joke from a relative of Harewood’s who ran the site, referring to a kiss and tell involving Harewood.

Apparently, when he was at West Ham, married Harewood had a fling with a woman, pretending he was an interior designer called Marlon Martin.

He was only caught out when the woman saw him celebrating a goal on Sky Sports.

What are the chances? He rarely scored while he was at Villa!

Y – Yorke

Start spreading the news, he’s playing today, I want to see him score again, Dwight Yorke, Dwight Yorke.

Villa fans saw him score for them 98 times in 287 appearances.

But it was not just the goals, it was the enjoyment and entertainment as the smiling striker, chipped in penalty, dazzled with drag-backs and even provided pre-match cheer by balancing the ball on his head as he ran the length of the pitch.

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Aston Villa update

Z – Zero, zilch or Zagreb

Bosko Balaban’s scoring tally for Villa amounted to a big round nothing following his £5.8 million arrival from Dinamo Zagreb.

Prolific elsewhere in his career, the Croatian centre forward failed to find the net in two starts and nine substitute appearances for Villa between 2001 and 2002 before banging in the goals again for Zagreb and Bruges.